Highlights, including Richard M. Nixon's entire 52 min. acceptance speech are covered by newsmen Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, John Daly and Martin Agronsky from all three networks. Additional speeches are heard from Henry Cabot Lodge and from Nelson Rockefeller. In a memorable moment of television, we listen to Richard M. Nixon, who chats with shoe shine boy Leon Thompson. They talk about baseball and politics. Nixon introduces his daughter Tricia Nixon to Leon. Back in the NBC studios, Edwin Newman comments with a chuckle and signs off.

These first live NBC News Bulletins by Don Pardo would precede regular program cancellations and continuous NBC live coverage of this 20th century tragedy (the assassination of President John F. Kennedy) for the next three and a half days. The first two bulletins are heard. Bulletin number one (Local in NYC) is broadcast at 1:45:03 PM EST and airs for 30 seconds. Bulletin number two (National) is broadcast at 1:46:42 and airs for 68 seconds, followed by the first two hours of uninterrupted News coverage with NBC anchors Bill Ryan, Chet Huntley and Frank McGee. Seventy-one hours and twenty-seven minutes of continuous coverage begins on NBC at 1:53 PM with CBS and ABC both starting their live continuous coverage at 2 PM. There are live telephone reports from correspondent Robert MacNeil in Dallas, Texas. There are additional reports from Charles Murphy, David Brinkley and Marvin Agronsky. There is live coverage from the United Nations where the Secretary General expresses sorrow to all members of the Kennedy Family and to all the people in the United States. One minute of silence is observed by all delegates from the 111 member nations. There is continuing NBC coverage from station WBAP, the affiliate in Fort Worth, Texas with Newsman Tom Whalen. Eyewitness Charles Brehm recounts what he saw. There is the first live overseas report from Irving R. Levine from Rome and live coverage from outside the NBC building at Rockefeller Center, with its Mobile Unit searching out reactions from New Yorkers with reporter Jeff Pond. Correspondent Richard Valeriani reports live from the White House. There are statements from Senator Barry Goldwater and from former President, Dwight D. Eisenhower. It took an incident of this proportion to catapult television into the forefront as the world's number one communicator of news and special events. Television had come of age.
NOTE: The first two NBC Television Bulletins and the initial 3:53 seconds of continuous coverage commencing at 1:53 PM EST was never recorded by NBC or archived by any other source. Amazingly, the only existing recording in the world of this historical television broadcast was audio recorded off the air by Archival Television Audio, Inc. during the actual live Television Broadcast. To date, no other audio or video has ever surfaced documenting these moments. These historic sound tracks have been donated to the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, MA, and to The Library of Congress in Washington D.C. The November 22, 1963 John F. Kennedy NBC-TV assassination bulletins and the initial lost 3:53 seconds of NBC live coverage are the most significant treasure in our archive. They personify just a part of the many thousands of other Archival Television Audio original, off the air, television soundtracks which represent the only record of a specific TV broadcast known to exist.

News report of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from WTOP-TV(CBS) Washington D.C. by Julian Barber. There is an NBC News bulletin and special report with further details including news of King's death. An ABC bulletin is heard interrupting regular broadcasting, announcing the tragic death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Joined in progress, late reports from Dan Rather on a CBS News Special Report. In a previous speech King is heard, reminding his followers that to put one's life on the line for what is just and righteous is to place oneself in danger, but the risks must be taken. Another CBS News Special report is telecast. Walter Cronkite relays the latest news from Memphis, Tennessee where King was pronounced dead one hour after he was shot. Cronkite recounts a brief biographic report on King; his early life, his rise to fame, and the influences he has had promoting non-violent activites. Wires are read from shocked dignitaries. President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks live to the American people requesting all Americans to work together for peace and solidarity. Via video tape, Vice President Hubert Humphrey reflects on this tragedy and gives praise to the work which King has done and to his non-violent philosophy for acquiring freedom and civil rights for all people. On the following day, April 5, Dan Rather reports concerning the looting which has occured. CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite reports on the state of emergency in Washington D.C. where racial violence has broken out. Steve Rowan reports. A national day of mourning is reported by Dan Rather. President Johnson again talks to the American people requesting unity. Additional reports from Memphis come from Ike Pappas and from Bill Plante. Prayers from Dr. Ralph Abernathy are heard. From Atlanta, a report detailing the return of King's body to Georgia. Peter Burns reports on funeral arrangements. From Cleveland, John Hart reports; we hear statements from Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Carl Stokes. From the Huntley Brinkley Report (NBC), Chet Huntley and David Brinkley inform on the latest development regarding violence in many states including Detroit, Greensboro, and Chicago.

Coverage of the Apollo X mission, a manned test in lunar orbit of the lunar module which will descend to within 10 miles of the lunar surface, in a rehearsal for the July flight which will carry a man to land on the moon. Apollo 10 spaceflight of Navy Commander John Young, Air Force Colonel Thomas P. Stafford, and Navy Commander Eugene A. Cernan. Reporting are Chet Huntley, Roy Neal, David Brinkley, Peter Hackes, Frank McGee, and Dr. Frank Field.

Apollo 11, the eight-day lunar-landing mission, set for a launch Wednesday, July 16, 1969 at 9:32 A.M. (EDT) from pad 39-A at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Apollo capsule will leave the Earth parking-orbit and head out for the Moon shortly after 12 noon.

For the next 72 hours, the flight should be pretty much routine. Then, at about 1 P.M. next Saturday, July 19, the spaceship enters lunar orbit and the astronauts prepare for what must be considered history's most dramatic adventure: landing on the moon (set for next Sunday) and a walk on its surface (Monday, July 20, 1969) lasting nearly two and a half hours. Concluding the mission: lunar module (LEM) liftoff from the moon and deciding with the command module (also on Monday); trans-Earth injection, beginning the homeward journey (Tuesday); and splashdown and recovery in the Pacific (Thursday, July 24).

NBC News spotlights the people and events that have shaped the sixties, weighs their impact on the present and forecasts their roles in setting our course for the seventies. Paul Newman serves as guide for the broadcast. The core of the program is 12 essays, each delivered by an NBC correspondent. Correspondents include: Chet Huntley, John Chancellor, Frank McGee, Sander Vanocur, Edwin Newman, Barbara Walters, Douglas Kiker, Jack Perkins, Elie Abel, Lenn Tucker, Aline Saarinen, and David Brinkley. Appropriately, the musical theme is "Turn, Turn, Turn" as it has been recorded by several artists.